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T O P I C R E V I E W

Liembo

What is the distinctiveness of "TSeNKI" produced patches?

Are they issued only to internal staff at Baikonur or made available for sale to the general public there? How many of each design are typically produced? Have any of the reproductions they have made ever been the official flight version, ISS Expedition or TMA crew patch?

Just curious as to what drives their eBay prices regularly in to the $70-120 realm, when the actual Roskosmos versions that are as the crew wear don't tend to fly that high.

hoorenz

I cannot answer all of your questions, but the TsENKI patches are of a heavier quality and sometimes use more sophisticated embroidery techniques. I think that is what makes them attractive.

None of these TsENKI patches were ever used as the official crew versions, but the crews of Soyuz TMA-11M and 12M did wear these in Star City and at Baikonur on their TsENKI-supplied jackets.

mama04

Liem, as a follow up to Erik's answer I also believe the prices paid for the TsENKI made patches are higher because of the limited supply of patches available. They are very difficult to find.

It is true that the TsENKI made patches are not worn by the flight crews on orbit but the quality of the patches is really fantastic. The embroidery is much heavier then the AB Emblem-made ISS Expedition patches.

As for the TsENKI-made TMA patches, the embroidery is also heavier then the official Spacepatches.nl-supplied Roscosmos patches but I have a a special fondness for my dutch friends at Spacepatches.nl as you can imagine. These guys do a fantastic job and their patches are fantastic, both in quality as in design. So I collect both!

To me it is a little similar to the situation there once was with AB and Lion Brothers in the US. The AB patches were the official ones but the LB patches were the more collectable. Better in quality and overall more beautiful. And look what people pay more money for these days... Just my two cents.

hoorenz

I think this is a first: TsENKI patches in space (Soyuz TMA-14M and ISS Expedition 42). You can easily recognize them: TsENKI TMA-14M patch has an overlock border; TsENKI Expedition 42 has brighter colors than the AB Emblem produced patch.

The polo on Serova is not produced by Kentavr-Nauka. It was an attempt by Energia to switch to cheaper onboard wear. And they asked TsENKI for their version of patches. The military quality control responsible for cosmonauts' foods and onboard wear remarked it and banned all the deliveries like that for the ISS.

Now only Kentavr-Nauka delivers their onboard wear to the ISS with official patches.